Hey, everyone! Happy Pride Month! The start of this month really inspired me to break out my bright colors, get creative, and create a look to celebrate the movement! I had so much fun creating this look, and I may be posting more Pride-inspired looks before the month is over!

Solidifying my skincare routine has probably been one of the longest personal processes I’ve ever went through! I have dry, sensitive skin, and am allergic to a lot of ingredients that are in heavy moisturizers, so finding a routine that works for me has taken a lot of trial and error.

I have been using my current routine for the last 6-8 months, and I finally think that I’ve found the perfect combinations! It’s a mix of budget K Beauty and high-end products from Sephora, but everything works together extremely well. My skin is calmer, more hydrated, and less prone to irritation than it has been in several years.

Toner: Mizon Intensive Skin Barrier Toner — This product has been the most recent addition to my routine. Before this, I was using a rich toner by Lancome that was good but, honestly, not the best thing for my skin. I decided to take a chance on this and ordered it from Amazon (bless Prime 2-day shipping). This toner contains ceramides and hyaluronic acid, which are both essential for hydrating the skin and repairing its moisture barrier. The results weren’t seen overnight, but after roughly 6 weeks of daily use, I can say the texture in my skin has diminished, my face is not as red, nor is it as easily irritated.

Essence: Mizon Water Volume EX First Essence — This is another amazing product by Mizon. It is a hydrating essence that contains snow algae extract, hydrasalinol, and moringa extract, and ceramides to hydrate, calm, repair, and soothe the skin. This product has been hard to find recently, and I’ve heard rumors that it has been discontinued, but I’m hoping Mizon will re-release it in the future! It’s a wonderful product and the best essence I’ve tried. I would hate to have to use something less effective.

Serum: Caudalie Vinosource S.O.S. Thirst Quenching Serum — This serum has been in my routine for about 4 years now! It’s packed with hyaluronic acid and grape seed extract, which hydrate and protect the skin from free radical damage. At $49 a bottle, it’s a bit on the pricey side, but one bottle lasts me 2-3 months and the benefits of using this serum are more than worth the price tag!

Ampoule: Mizon Snail Repair Intensive Ampoule — This ampoule contains 80% snail mucus extract, which has anti-aging properties and helps skin regenerate. Peptides and vitamin 5 round out this powerhouse formula to nourish, brighten, and firm the skin. I have also used this product for years, and I definitely notice a change in my skin when I don’t have it in my routine.

Moisturizer: Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion — This is perhaps one of the best moisturizers I have ever used, and I’ve used it since I first started experimenting with a more complex skincare routine! It’s thick enough that it keeps my skin hydrated all day, but it doesn’t contain fatty alcohols, which is so rare in a moisturizer formulated for dry skin! It does, however, contain mineral oil, so be aware of that in case you are sensitive to it.

Oil: Drunk Elephant Virgin Marula Luxury Facial Oil — Finding the right oil for my routine has probably been the most difficult part of solidifying my routine. Some oils are too greasy, others clogged my pores and caused breakouts, and some just weren’t rich enough for my skin. But this oil by Drunk Elephant is a holy grail product for me. It’s not a particularly heavy oil, but it delivers a lot of hydration nonetheless. I mix 2-3 drops into my Clinique moisturizer to apply it. It really helps “seal in” the many layers of my routine and helps my face stay hydrated all day long! This oil is $72 per bottle, so there are cheaper options out there, but I do have a certain level of brand loyalty to Drunk Elephant. I respect their vision and I trust their products, so it’s well worth the price to me.

Please comment below and let me know what you think of my routine, and feel free to share yours too! I am also happy to answer any questions you might have about these products.

Hey guys! Now that summer is (finally) here, I couldn’t resist doing a warm, colorful look for a night out! 🌞💃🏻✨ I used several single shadows from my collection to make this look, check out the list below!

I have been absolutely in love with the Anastasia Beverly Hills Subculture palette lately 😍 I attempted my first halo eye with it for a night out, and it inspired me to go for a total vampy grunge look.

I have seen some Youtubers say that they’ve had issue with blending out the colors in Subculture. I made sure to use a very light hand when applying and blending colors and being careful not to overblend.

Hey everyone! I have a special post for y’all today. As you guys know, metallic lipsticks (especially metallic LIQUID lipsticks) are all the rage right now. With brand working as hard as possible to release their own version of the trend, it can be hard to discern which are the best!

So today, I’ll be comparing the three most popular brands for you: Milani Amore Mattallics, Colourpop Cosmetics Ultra Metallic Lip, and Kylie Cosmetics Metal Matte Lipstick.

Colourpop Cosmetics Ultra Metallic Liquid Lipsticks – $6 each, colourpop.com. These lipsticks are the cheapest of the three brands I’m comparing. There are currently 8 shades available in the Ultra Metallic line, but I only picked up Maneater, a metallic rose gold, and Zebra, a true metallic bronze. The Ultra Metallic lipsticks feel similar to their Ultra Satin line, which means they don’t dry to a matte, transfer-free finish.

The lipstick has a flat doe foot applicator which allows for a smooth, even application of the product, and makes it easy to get a crisp line. However, once the lipstick sets, it becomes extremely sticky – much stickier than the Ultra Satin lipsticks! I’m a diehard matte liquid lipstick fan, so I may be biased, but to me they are so sticky that it’s distracting. You can feel your lips pulling apart whenever you move your mouth! I feel like the longevity of this lipstick is affected by the stickiness of it, which defeats the purpose of a liquid lipstick in my opinion. Although Maneater is one of my favorite colors of the metallic liquid lipsticks I own, I just can’t get past the drawbacks of the formula.

Kylie Cosmetics Metal Matte Lipstick – $18 each, kyliecosmetics.com. Although I wasn’t particularly impressed with the first release of Kylie’s Metal Matte range, I decided to take the plunge again with KyMajesty since it is such an interesting color! I also wanted to see if Kylie had fixed any of the drawbacks with her first formula. But, even though Kylie has changed the doe foot – it is identical to Colourpop’s – the formula is still lacking.

Although KyMajesty is a brilliant color and so unique, I can’t wear this lipstick. It’s ridiculously sticky (just like Colourpop’s), not very opaque, and wears off very patchily & noticeably in only an hour’s time without eating or drinking. The formula of KyMajesty is a little grittier than that of Heir or Reign due to the glitter, so that’s another drawback. Lastly, and it might just be me, but I don’t think my tube was completely full? I really hope another company dupes this color soon, because the formula is definitely a no-go for me. This product is straight-up not worth the price.

Milani Amore Mattallic Liquid Lipsticks – $8.99 each, milanicosmetics.com. The Milani Amore Mattallics are the only lipstick in this post that dry to a matte, transfer-free finish. There are about 8 different shades in the range, but I am reviewing Chromatic Addict, a metallic beige; Matterialistic, a bronze-y rose gold; and Mattely in Love, a true red.

These lipsticks have a strong cake batter scent, but I think it smells delicious. I’m also not sensitive to most fragrances, so these might bother you if you are. This lipstick has a long, flat doe foot applicator. It took a little practice to get the hang of applying with this applicator, but I think it actually gives a more even application than other applicators I’ve tried. The product applies evenly, is very pigmented, and dries rather quickly. Once it’s on, it does not move! I’ve worn all three out for nights on the town, and when I return home 5-6 hours later after much food and drink, it still looks as good as it did when I left.

As you guys can probably surmise from my reviews, the Milani Amore Mattallics are by far my favorite metallic lipstick. Between the shade selection, the quality, and the price, you just can’t beat them! To be honest, I would easily pay three times the price for these! They are just that good. I hope Milani makes these permanent or at least expands the line to add new colors before discontinuing them altogether.

Have you guys tried these liquid lipsticks? What do you think of them? What was your fave? Let me know in the comments below ❤

Hi everyone! I hope you’ve all had a wonderful weekend! A couple months ago, Lancôme released a line of lip oils called Juicy Shakers. The Juicy Shakers are made with “bi-phase technology.” The first phase is a non-sticky, transparent blend of five different oils that help moisturize and condition your lips. The second phase provides pigment for a light wash of color.

I purchased Great-Fruit (sparkling grapefruit) and Cherry Symphony (cherry pop). Great-Fruit had a peachy stain to it, while Cherry Symphony is a bright cherry red.

The Juicy Shakers are very easy to apply! All you do is shake the little tube (I think it looks like a cocktail mixer!), unscrew the cap, and dab the pigment-soaked cushion onto your lips, adding more or less til you reach your desired opacity. My personal favorite is Cherry Symphony. It gave me that just-ate-a-popsicle stain! Great-Fruit smelled amazing, but I didn’t see any noticeable change on my lips.

Although the oils don’t dry down, I found that they last a decent amount of time! I got roughly 3 hours of wear, with no eating and only sipping some water, before I re-applied. They also taste awesome! I’d previously tried the YSL Tint-in-Oils but I was never crazy about them because of the way they tasted. But the Juicy Shakers taste exactly how they smell! To me, the scent isn’t overpowering, but if you’re sensitive to scents you might want to sample these in-store prior to purchasing.

All in all, for $20 a pop, I think the Lancôme Juicy Shakers are excellent lip oils! The packaging is cute and sturdy, the scents & color ranges are great, and they do an awesome job of hydrating your lips. Although I love YSL’s cosmetic line, I think the Juicy Shakers are a much better alternative in terms of cost, shade range, and taste.

Have you guys tried the Juicy Shakers? What do you think? Let me know in the comments ❤

Hey everyone! I hope you’re all having a bomb week. Today I have a couple recent releases by Anastasia Beverly Hills to review for you: the Modern Renaissance Palette and the Sun Dipped Glow Kit.

Both items were released a couple months ago on the ABH website, so naturally I had to snap them right up to try out! Modern Renaissance is ABH’s first permanent eyeshadow palette and Sun Dipped is the third installment of their Glow Kit collection. To my knowledge, Sun Dipped isn’t permanent, but since Gleam and That Glow are both still in stock I expect it to be around for quite a while.

Modern Renaissance is a 14-pan eyeshadow palette that was inspired by Renaissance art. Being an art major and earning a minor in Art History in college, I was super excited when I heard about the concept behind this palette because I loved studying Renaissance art!

The pans in Modern Renaissance are a bit larger than those in other ABH palettes but only contain about 7g of product each. This palette boasts lots of warm neutrals and red/orange shades. All shades but 2 are matte, which I like because I am a big fan of all-matte eye looks! The concept behind the palette matches the colors of the eyeshadows perfectly. All shades are creamy and pigmented. They all swatched and applied smoothly. I think the formulation of this palette is ABH’s best yet!

This palette feels incredibly versatile. I think it will work for summer, fall, winter, and even spring! This palette would also be a great dupe for Lime Crime’s Venus Palette, if you don’t wish to support the company.

Overall, I think Modern Renaissance is one of ABH’s best palette releases ever! The formula, color selection, packaging, price… It’s all A1. I also really like that it’s a permanent addition to the collection so no one has to miss out on it! There is so much hype generated these days and it’s nice for a company to look out for its customers.

The Sun Dipped Glow Kit contains four 0.26oz powders, which comes out to just over 1 full ounce of product. I’ve also reviewed the Gleam Kit so I won’t re-iterate about the formula, pigmentation, or packaging, as it’s largely the same.

I think Sun Dipped does a much better job of catering to all skintones than other kits made by ABH due to the wide variety of shades and differing undertones. It really warms my heart that ABH makes such a great range of highlighters because many don’t make anything as dark as Bronzed or as light as pans from other Glow Kits! My favorite shade from this palette, though, is Tourmaline. It’s such a beautiful mauve color with champagne reflects. I think it is best on medium skintones but I think it’s formulated in such a way that both light and deep skintones could also wear it well.

Overall, Sun Dipped is an excellent Glow Kit offering from Anastasia Beverly Hills. The colors are beautiful, the formula is there, and it flatters all skintones. For $40, you can’t beat a kit like this! It would be a great addition to any collection.

What do you guys think of these products? Have you tried Sun Dipped or Modern Renaissance? Let me know in the comments below ❤

Hey guys! As most of you know, L’Oreal recently released a new line of foundations. The Infallible Pro-Glow foundations are formulated with a radiant finish and made for normal to dry skintypes. Pro-Glow is billed as a 24-hour foundation, but I don’t know anyone that would wear it for that long! It comes in a range of 12 shades. Matching to drugstore foundations is tricky for me, so I picked up 201 Classic Ivory, 203 Nude Beige, and 204 Natural Buff to try out.

I could not find an exact match in any of these shades. 201 was much too light, while 204 was way too dark. 203 was only a hair darker than my HG foundation shade (MUFE HD N115) at first, but it oxidized once it dried to a much darker color. I was able to mix a decent match between 201 & 203, but it wasn’t perfect.

As far as wear, this foundation was impeccable. I used it with my usual primers and routine and it applied flawlessly. At the end of the night, when I was about to remove my makeup after being in nightclubs and outside in the humid summer weather for the last 5 hours, it had not budged an inch! The only downside was that there was some light creasing around my smile lines, but that happens to me with all foundations that I try. Pro-Glow did not emphasize dry patches, break up around my nose & T-zone, and did not wear away along my jawline and chin. I will not be testing it to see if it truly stays put for 24 hours, but if it didn’t budge in this instance, I can easily see it staying put for a whole day, no problem.

At roughly $12 per 1-ounce bottle, this foundation is a great find. I do wish that the shade range was a bit more inclusive, so more people could find a match, but I think those that can will be very happy with this product. It is available on Ulta’s website as well as on Amazon.

Have any of you tried this product? What did you think? Let me know in the comments ❤

Hey guys! I hope you’ve all had a fabulous week. A few days ago, the Kat Von D Serpentina palette launched on the KVD brand and Sephora websites. Naturally, I had to get it to try out for you guys! I ordered it Tuesday and it was waiting for me when I got home from work today. Sephora never lets me down with that Flash 2 Day shipping.

I should start by saying that I had some reservations about this palette. I wanted to purchase it regardless so I could review it for you guys, but based on my experience with some of KVD’s previous palettes, I wasn’t sure I would end up liking it!

Let’s discuss the packaging first. It’s a very long palette, similar to the length of Jeffree Star’s Beauty Killer. Serpentina is constructed out of cardboard but it feels very sturdy, especially with its magnetic closure. The palette itself is pretty weighty in-hand. I didn’t expect the pans to be set so deeply inside the palette, but I suppose it’s necessary in order to make room for the jar of pigment and the mirror. The sifter jar of pigment pops out of the tray and is made of plastic, which doesn’t bother me because it feels fairly sturdy. I like that the top of the lid is transparent so you can see the pigment inside.

I swatched all colors the same way to show the differences in pigmentation between the shades:

Bloodmilk: Great pigmentation, very creamy. A little kick up in the pan after swatching, but nothing major.

Medusa: Great pigmentation. Nothing negative to say about this shade except that I would have preferred a different color, given that we have Prophet!

Ankh: Fairly pigmented for a black glitter eyeshadow, but we have hella fallout with this one. It’s definitely the worst with fallout in this palette!

Queen: Very nice, beautiful shade. Good pigmentation, good application, no chunkiness to the formula. Nothing negative to say!

Hieroglyph: Performs similarly to Queen, only a little less pigmented. There’s nothing glaringly awesome or glaringly negative to say about either of these shades.

Nile: Absolutely beautiful color, but the formula leaves a lot to be desired. Probably the 3rd worst with fallout in this palette. While really pigmented, the formula balled up under my finger while in the pan. Lots of kick-up in the pan as well.

Scarab: Great color, but the 2nd worst (or maybe tied for 1st?) about fallout in this palette. The same issues as Nile, honestly. You can see the clumps in the swatch picture below!

Venom: A decent matte. I know purples are hard to formulate, so I will take it easy on this shade. It could have certainly been worse.

Prophet: I was a little skeptical to try Prophet, as this was my first loose shadow that I’ve ever messed with. I swatched it loose on my arm, but when I applied it to my mobile lid, I dampened the brush with Fix+ first. LAWD.The pigmentation, the shine. A little went a very long way and it blended easily with the other shadows I used.

In the future, I will definitely use a transition shade before working with these colors. I was able to do a decent job on my quick & dirty EOTD above, but that was mostly thanks to a previously used blending brush covered with a peachy neutral shadow haha. It’s a bummer that this palette doesn’t come with a transition shade included, but I also think that helps keep the palette extremely versatile. You can literally pair it with anything! I will certainly continue playing with this palette, but so far I am very impressed and very much enjoying Serpentina. I think this palette is an excellent alternative for those who want to start wearing colored shadows but aren’t interested in neon brights. The colors in this palette also seem like they’ll look perfect on all skintones and would look great for fall!

Who else managed to get their hands on Serpentina? What did you think? Let me know in the comments below. I’d love to see the looks you come up with! ❤